28th August 2003, 11:19 AM
Having played this a bit, I'll say what's surprised me so far.
First off, this is the best expansion I've seen yet. It actually changes the way the game plays.
In any case, so ABF knows, I was right. There ARE battleships as well as transports. More than that, rather than just the goblin shipyards, there are also human, night elf, and so on shipyards (all neutral buildings mind you) with unique ships. More than THAT, there are a lot of neutral monsters and such that can traverse water all on their own. This means ship combat has returned better than WC2! It's sweet indeed.
The naga are so well developed they are like THIS close to being their own seperate race. You even get to control them during at least one single player mission. They aren't quite developed enough for multiplayer though. With some work and a massive patch, maybe Blizzard could actually provide us with a 5th race.
The Orc campaign is the one dissappointment, though it's a very minor thing. Only the first chapter is included. When you beat it, it says you can download the rest when Blizzard has completed them from their site. I personally can't wait for them to complete these chapters. Even though the Orc campaign is pretty much just a diablo-like set of missions, it's still pretty fun since you have multiple units all the time. In the first chapter though you don't once get to control an orc base. Probably won't in the other two from the looks of it.
The rest of it is very nice indeed. The story so far is in fact NOT the Brood War ripoff some of us had assumed, especially with the last campaign being undead. A lot of what happens during the campaigns is uniquelly warcraft.
The new heros and units don't just ADD to strategy like in Brood War. They totally change the strategies one uses. Hard to list examples but with all the new weird moves added it's very different feeling. Fortunatly, a lot of the changes (like food cap limit) aren't applied to Reign of Chaos, meaning you can play a truly "original" mode of play and not just Frozen Throne minus Frozen Throne units, should you want to play the old style.
Oh yes, air combat is muchly expanded thanks to the added air combat units. Not many were added but it was enough to get it near Starcraft's level of air combat. This is yet another total change in how the game plays. While Reign of Chaos had some air units that were great to eventually upgrade to, as in super powerful creatures, Frozen Throne has a nice flying armada to choose from with FAR more than just power to draw one to them, and thus they will be wanting at least some of the special moves the new flyers have. Air combat is not just a smash fest in the sky now. It's fully developed and something people will WANT to do. Sea combat is very similar, and now dominating the seas will be equally important.
What I haven't done yet is see how many neutral shipyards are in the Frozen Throne "standard" multiplayer maps. I should hope a lot of them are in there.
Oh, and one particular Pandaran brewmaster plays a part in the main story, the Orc story. Though his story is very much like the weird creature who joins one's party in an RPG. He's tagging along to find exotic ingredients for his ales.
First off, this is the best expansion I've seen yet. It actually changes the way the game plays.
In any case, so ABF knows, I was right. There ARE battleships as well as transports. More than that, rather than just the goblin shipyards, there are also human, night elf, and so on shipyards (all neutral buildings mind you) with unique ships. More than THAT, there are a lot of neutral monsters and such that can traverse water all on their own. This means ship combat has returned better than WC2! It's sweet indeed.
The naga are so well developed they are like THIS close to being their own seperate race. You even get to control them during at least one single player mission. They aren't quite developed enough for multiplayer though. With some work and a massive patch, maybe Blizzard could actually provide us with a 5th race.
The Orc campaign is the one dissappointment, though it's a very minor thing. Only the first chapter is included. When you beat it, it says you can download the rest when Blizzard has completed them from their site. I personally can't wait for them to complete these chapters. Even though the Orc campaign is pretty much just a diablo-like set of missions, it's still pretty fun since you have multiple units all the time. In the first chapter though you don't once get to control an orc base. Probably won't in the other two from the looks of it.
The rest of it is very nice indeed. The story so far is in fact NOT the Brood War ripoff some of us had assumed, especially with the last campaign being undead. A lot of what happens during the campaigns is uniquelly warcraft.
The new heros and units don't just ADD to strategy like in Brood War. They totally change the strategies one uses. Hard to list examples but with all the new weird moves added it's very different feeling. Fortunatly, a lot of the changes (like food cap limit) aren't applied to Reign of Chaos, meaning you can play a truly "original" mode of play and not just Frozen Throne minus Frozen Throne units, should you want to play the old style.
Oh yes, air combat is muchly expanded thanks to the added air combat units. Not many were added but it was enough to get it near Starcraft's level of air combat. This is yet another total change in how the game plays. While Reign of Chaos had some air units that were great to eventually upgrade to, as in super powerful creatures, Frozen Throne has a nice flying armada to choose from with FAR more than just power to draw one to them, and thus they will be wanting at least some of the special moves the new flyers have. Air combat is not just a smash fest in the sky now. It's fully developed and something people will WANT to do. Sea combat is very similar, and now dominating the seas will be equally important.
What I haven't done yet is see how many neutral shipyards are in the Frozen Throne "standard" multiplayer maps. I should hope a lot of them are in there.
Oh, and one particular Pandaran brewmaster plays a part in the main story, the Orc story. Though his story is very much like the weird creature who joins one's party in an RPG. He's tagging along to find exotic ingredients for his ales.